[Relapsing meningitis and confusion: limbic encephalitis revealing Hodgkin's disease].
BACKGROUND
An observation of limbic encephalitis associated with Hodgkin's disease is compared with rare cases of the literature. The clinical presentation was relapsing episodes of febrile cognitive disorders with confusion and meningitis, curable after treatment of Hodgkin's disease. Recent concepts on limbic encephalitis are discussed.


METHODS
A seventy-five-year-old patient was hospitalized because of relapsing feverish confusion episodes with meningitis. During the year before his admission he had experienced four spontaneously regressive episodes of feverish confusion. Exploration of these episodes disclosed a paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis due to an underlying Hodgkin's disease. The treatment of Hodgkin's disease led to perfect recovery of cognitive function, so that the patient could drive his car.


CONCLUSIONS
Lymphoproliferative disease, such as Hodgkin's disease, is a possible diagnosis in patients with limbic encephalitis. A dysimmune process underlying Hodgkin's disease might be operating in this association.
Serratrice
J
J
Service de médecine interne, 264, rue Saint-Pierre, CHU de la Timone, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France. jacques.serratrice@ap-hm.fr
Amri
A Ben
AB
Bouabdallah
R
R
Ceccaldi
M
M
Weiller
P-J
PJ
D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003221:Confusion / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D020363:Limbic Encephalitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012008:Recurrence; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D001323:Autoantibodies